Detroit Free Press: Health Insurance Trade Group Meets Detroiters

From Detroit Free Press: April Readus just had a child. She worked that Friday, she said, gave birth on Saturday, and was back to work on Tuesday to earn money for pediatrician visits.
Oneida Gorecki left her job in June. She said she kept her hours low to keep her husband eligible for Medicare. She relies on Mercy Primary Care Center, a facility on Detroit's east side that serves uninsured people.

Charilyn Goolsby is insured through her husband's work, but said she can't afford to give health insurance to the workers at her small business.

Readus, Gorecki and Goolsby were three of six women who met at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit at the request of the health insurance industry group AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans. They talked to Chief Executive Karen Ignagni about their health care and insurance issues. This was AHIP's second meeting on health care reform in its Campaign for an American Solution.

The women's message: We need better and affordable health care and coverage. We need to be treated equally, regardless of our insurance status. We need universal health care.

AHIP's response: We need more federal funding to shore up the safety net of public programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and MIChild.

We need better subsidies. We need to cap health care expenses. We need tax credits for working individuals who earn up to $80,000 to use toward health care.

To read the entire article, click here.